Hello,
Anyone can give me please some tips on how to get an unlimited USA master license having already one issued for Italian Government and 25 years at sea.
thank you
R.
If your license is STCW, which I assume it is, you should be able to apply for the US equivalent.
I am sure one of the guys on this forum can tell you what agency you have to go to.
good luck!
You have to be a U.S. citizen to get U.S. officer endorsements.
That is true. Only US citizens can hold a US license. A green card is not enough for a license. However, a foreign US green card holder can get a MMC as a seaman.
If you are a US citizen, the USCG will evaluate your foreign license and seatime. You must have recency, at least 90 days of seatime within the last five years. Generally, most guys that have lived in the US long enough to become citizens (five years, unless you have been married to an American for three years) cannot meet the recency requirement without sailing foreign again to obtain 90 days of recent seatime. I have heard, but do not know whether or not it is true, that the USCG normally will not issue a first license higher than chief mate based upon an evaluation of a foreign license and seatime. This is one of those situations where it would be a good idea to hire a US license consultant to guide you through the process. Welcome to America and good luck.
I’ll have to look it up but I don’t think that is true about US Citizenship to obtain a License.
Here is the CFR
It is true. You must be a citizen.
U can be a permanent resident to get unlicensed ratings
CFR › Title 46 › Chapter I › Subchapter B › Part 10 › Subpart B › Section 10.221
46 CFR 10.221 - Citizenship.
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§ 10.221 Citizenship.
(a)
(1) MMCs with officer Endorsements. Only individuals with valid U.S. citizenship may apply for officer endorsements, except individuals applying for endorsements as operators of uninspected passenger vessels authorizing service on undocumented vessels in accordance with § 11.201(d) of this part.
That CFR is pretty clear that one must be a US citizen. The only exception is for a license as uninspected motorboat operator license on an undocumented vessel. That is the so called 6-pack license. Every US vessel over 5 net tons (or over 65 feet) must be documented.
Also worth mentioning is that even an unlicensed “master” of a DOCUMENTED US vessel, even a small yacht, or fishingboat, must be an American citizen.
I stand corrected.
:o
[QUOTE=AB Murph;137910]I stand corrected.
:o[/QUOTE]
You consistently make good informative posts. We all use our quota of errors, especially posting on the fly at o’-dark-30.
[QUOTE=redarrow17@hotmail.com;137770]Hello,
Anyone can give me please some tips on how to get an unlimited USA master license having already one issued for Italian Government and 25 years at sea.
thank you
R.[/QUOTE]
What do you want with a unlimited USA master if you already have STCW-95 license? Just get work on a foreign company working in the GOM and they will fix the rest.
[QUOTE=AB Murph;137910]I stand corrected. :o[/QUOTE]
You were partially right. A resident alien (green card) can get a license as Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV, or “6 pack”), but nothing else.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;137905]Also worth mentioning is that even an unlicensed “master” of a DOCUMENTED US vessel, even a small yacht, or fishingboat, must be an American citizen.[/QUOTE]
I don’t mean to be argumentative, but I don’t understand what a “unlicensed master” is.
Every vessel that is underway has some person in charge of operating it. That person is the Master. Every documented vessel of the United States must have a Master who is a US citizen. Fishing vessels under 200 gross tons do not require any license to operate them. Yachts under 300 gross tons do not require a license to operate them. So most US fishing vessels and yachts have Masters who do not have a license.
At the risk of disclosing how elderly I am, back before President Reagan streamlined the federal bureaucracy, the Master had to have his name endorsed on the vessel’s document. Every little port had a USCG Documentation office. When you wanted to change Masters on a boat, you had to take the boat’s document to the documentation office and have the new Master signed on to the document. The Master had to swear an oath to be signed on. Compliance and enforcement of this rule was often neglected.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;138030]Every vessel that is underway has some person in charge of operating it. That person is the Master. Every documented vessel of the United States must have a Master who is a US citizen. Fishing vessels under 200 gross tons do not require any license to operate them. Yachts under 300 gross tons do not require a license to operate them. So most US fishing vessels and yachts have Masters who do not have a license.
At the risk of disclosing how elderly I am, back before President Reagan streamlined the federal bureaucracy, the Master had to have his name endorsed on the vessel’s document. Every little port had a USCG Documentation office. When you wanted to change Masters on a boat, you had to take the boat’s document to the documentation office and have the new Master signed on to the document. The Master had to swear an oath to be signed on. Compliance and enforcement of this rule was often neglected.[/QUOTE]
Gotcha. I’m not anywhere near the league you guys are in … I only hold a 50 ton masters ticket for use running an inspected (over 6) charter boat. I had just never heard the term “unlicensed master” before. Thanks for getting back to me.
[QUOTE=Kraken;137953]What do you want with a unlimited USA master if you already have STCW-95 license? Just get work on a foreign company working in the GOM and they will fix the rest.[/QUOTE]Yes, because that’s what we want, more foreign vessels with more foreign mariners working our waters day in day out.There are at least 5 working within a 10nm vicinity of Thunderhorse right now…
you forgot to mention the crew are not paying tax either thats another reason not qualify for a USCG ticket
You are if you’re a permanent resident…
W.
i think as per uscg, someone holding a foreign license for master mariner or mate will have to give up their foreign license in order to get usa recognised license. uscg will give u 2nd mate’s license to start with.
[QUOTE=Popeye76;137853]If your license is STCW, which I assume it is, you should be able to apply for the US equivalent.
I am sure one of the guys on this forum can tell you what agency you have to go to.
good luck![/QUOTE]
Maybe not. The United States generally does not endorse foreign STCW certificates, you wont get a US issued STCW document simply by holding one from another country. The national endorsement (license) is pretty straight forward you can use any and all time under your foreign license to obtain a U.S. national endorsement, but you will need to take the test for whatever endorsement you qualify for.
STCW is more problematic. The U, S. does not (generally) endorse foreign STCW certificates, so you will need to show you meet the United States’ requirements for an original STCW endorsement, i.e. all required training and assessment. For someone with 25+ years experience,. this will be problematic as in all likelihood, you did not get your current foreign certifications by meeting the current STCW requirements, you were probably grandfathered to them by virtue of having the corresponding national endorsements prior to 2002.
You will need to show you meet all of the current U,S requirements for the national (license) and STCW endorsements.
Although it might be apparent, it is worth reminding that you also need to be a U. S. citizen.
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[QUOTE=AB Murph;137899]I’ll have to look it up but I don’t think that is true about US Citizenship to obtain a License.
Here is the CFR
http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/46/10.221[/QUOTE]
It is true. The only exception is for uininspected vessels of less than 100 GRT.
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[QUOTE=nadeemalam;167600]i think as per uscg, someone holding a foreign license for master mariner or mate will have to give up their foreign license in order to get usa recognised license. uscg will give u 2nd mate’s license to start with.[/QUOTE]
There is no such requirement. The Coast Guard’s sole concern is whether you meet the requirements for a U. S. endorsement. It is also possible to qualify directly for Master Unlimited, service on foreign vessels (under a foreign license) can be used, the only proviso is that it will not be credited for more than the same position on a U.S. vessel (e.g. if the foreign flag authorized two watches (12 hours per day) and the U.S. does not for the same type of vessel you will not get 1.5 to 1 credit for the 12 hour day.
OK, a little thread drift and maybe a silly question.
As I’ve mentioned before I have a UK license and I’m currently working as a deckhand as I am only a green card holder, but I can file for citizenship the 1st week of January 2016.
My current company is keen for me to start driving their boats, so the sooner I can get a USCG license the sooner I can start [company] training.
The current plan is to sit the 100 ton license and radar observer (company requirement), courses and exams at a maritime school given that the pass certificates are good for filing for 12 months, and I can take the exams before actually having the citizenship and turn the papers into the USCG as soon as I have the citizenship papers. If I want to test direct with the USCG I apparently can’t apply to test until after I get the citizenship so this route should save a couple of months.
Anyway the question is would applying for a seaman MMC now speed things up even more as I’d ‘be on the books’? I already have a TWIC card and certifiable sea service, etc.
Thanks.
PW.